LaMelephant: The LaMelo Ball Thread (#2)

[NCHeels2008]

And what point do we think the front office loses patience with lamelo's ankles?

Zion for LaMelo? lol

[Bassman]

And what point do we think the front office loses patience with lamelo's ankles?

Fair question. First, I’d suggest they put Melo on the shelf for as long as it takes to recover. Next, get their “crack” medical team to consult with some global specialists related to his condition. There is a name for it that I can’t recall at the moment, but it involves stretched tendons that lose their ability to recover as they lose strength/tensile capacity over repeated injury. Better get a long term solution for this, or Mark won’t be the only player with severe used car value.

Lastly, to Fats question, they may have waited too long if they hoped to get bonanza value in a trade. How can any team not see this as chronic?

[KembaWalker]

There’s not going to be a “quick fix” that a surgeon is just gonna go in there and fix with some magical ankle strengthening elixir. It would take hundreds of hours of boring, hard work in the weight room with PT specialists. This type of work is antithetical to LaMelo as a player and a person. He loves ball but only the act of playing it, otherwise he thinks he’s special. That’s the difference between him and Steph Curry.

[SWedd523]

And what point do we think the front office loses patience with lamelo's ankles?

4/5 and three years straight of team crippling injuries with no positive direction in sight.

We're already at that point.

The question becomes what they plan to do about it.

[Rich4114]

You guys realize he got it stepped on and probably reaggravated what was already sore. Given the team is playing it ultra safe right now and we're tanking, why are we acting like this is the final straw on LaMelo and injuries? He played for another 2 mins before coming out after it was stepped on.

[yosemiteben]

Melo has also already played more games this season than last season and basically the same as the season before, and given that we have 30 games left in the season that's a good sign. They're clearly being careful with him and he's shown an improved ability to stay healthy this season. He's got more work to do, but I don't think it's just more of the same this season.

[SWedd523]

You guys realize he got it stepped on and probably reaggravated what was already sore. Given the team is playing it ultra safe right now and we're tanking, why are we acting like this is the final straw on LaMelo and injuries? He played for another 2 mins before coming out after it was stepped on.

Rolling an ankle isn't an uncommon occurrence in basketball. Guys do it all the time and don't have long term issues over and over and over again with it.

I refuse to sit here and listen to head-in-sand "benefit of the doubt" talk.

One time in an anomaly, twice is a coincidence, you get the point.


This whole "being careful" with him **** has to go away at some point.

[Rich4114]

Melo has also already played more games this season than last season and basically the same as the season before, and given that we have 30 games left in the season that's a good sign. They're clearly being careful with him and he's shown an improved ability to stay healthy this season. He's got more work to do, but I don't think it's just more of the same this season.

Stop being reasonable. It's time to trade LaMelo for 3 second round picks and Imanual Quickley!

[JMAC3]

You guys realize he got it stepped on and probably reaggravated what was already sore. Given the team is playing it ultra safe right now and we're tanking, why are we acting like this is the final straw on LaMelo and injuries? He played for another 2 mins before coming out after it was stepped on.

Rolling an ankle isn't an uncommon occurrence in basketball. Guys do it all the time and don't have long term issues over and over and over again with it.

I refuse to sit here and listen to head-in-sand "benefit of the doubt" talk.

One time in an anomaly, twice is a coincidence, you get the point.


This whole "being careful" with him **** has to go away at some point.

Do you think the time to stop being careful with him is when we are 25 games below .500 and already down 7 rotation players? I am asking seriously? Would you have rather seen him limp around for 28 mins last night vs the Brooklyn Nets? Would that have felt like a win

[KembaWalker]

You guys realize he got it stepped on and probably reaggravated what was already sore. Given the team is playing it ultra safe right now and we're tanking, why are we acting like this is the final straw on LaMelo and injuries? He played for another 2 mins before coming out after it was stepped on.

Rolling an ankle isn't an uncommon occurrence in basketball. Guys do it all the time and don't have long term issues over and over and over again with it.

I refuse to sit here and listen to head-in-sand "benefit of the doubt" talk.

One time in an anomaly, twice is a coincidence, you get the point.


This whole "being careful" with him **** has to go away at some point.

Do you think the time to stop being careful with him is when we are 25 games below .500 and already down 7 rotation players? I am asking seriously? Would you have rather seen him limp around for 28 mins last night vs the Brooklyn Nets? Would that have felt like a win

if we're operating under the premise that the games dont matter then we shouldn't be playing him when he's at the point that any minor misstep takes sends him to the locker room for the rest of the game

[JMAC3]

Rolling an ankle isn't an uncommon occurrence in basketball. Guys do it all the time and don't have long term issues over and over and over again with it.

I refuse to sit here and listen to head-in-sand "benefit of the doubt" talk.

One time in an anomaly, twice is a coincidence, you get the point.


This whole "being careful" with him **** has to go away at some point.

Do you think the time to stop being careful with him is when we are 25 games below .500 and already down 7 rotation players? I am asking seriously? Would you have rather seen him limp around for 28 mins last night vs the Brooklyn Nets? Would that have felt like a win

if we're operating under the premise that the games dont matter then we shouldn't be playing him when he's at the point that any minor misstep takes sends him to the locker room for the rest of the game

Yes, that would fix everything. Nobody would complain about him missing time at all. It is a lose lose situation.

The most games LaMelo has missed in a row all year was 7 and it wasn't ankle related. To me the braces are helping, yes he is tweaking the ankle now and again but his time missed has been getting shorter and shorter which probably tells us the ankle is getting stronger.

[KembaWalker]

Do you think the time to stop being careful with him is when we are 25 games below .500 and already down 7 rotation players? I am asking seriously? Would you have rather seen him limp around for 28 mins last night vs the Brooklyn Nets? Would that have felt like a win

if we're operating under the premise that the games dont matter then we shouldn't be playing him when he's at the point that any minor misstep takes sends him to the locker room for the rest of the game

Yes, that would fix everything. Nobody would complain about him missing time at all. It is a lose lose situation.

The most games LaMelo has missed in a row all year was 7 and it wasn't ankle related. To me the braces are helping, yes he is tweaking the ankle now and again but his time missed has been getting shorter and shorter which probably tells us the ankle is getting stronger.

fans complaining probably shouldn't be a part of their decision making process.

[Rich4114]

He didn't even twist his ankle this time. His heel got stepped on by another player in traffic. I am sure that hurt like hell and would've limited his performance and ability to protect himself had he kept playing. If this were April and we were jockeying for playoff positioning, maybe you ice it up and try to get him back in there. But keeping him on the floor only to perform sub par (after he was performing at an all star level with the playmaking and shots) would've been malpractice. We all want to see him ball out. Thankfully this organization has finally become reasonable with how they're handling injuries within a season like this. Sit him out vs the Magic on Wednesday and let him a bunch of extra rest over the ASB so he can be as close to 100% as possible when we resume in LA.

[JMAC3]

I am just tired of the conversation anytime LaMelo gets banged up it immediately turns into an overdramatic reaction of should we trade him? It is just old at this point.

This fanbase all together is too all over the place. Legit this guy will push LaMelo as a franchise player 1 minute, then want to trade him the moment we lose to the wizards.

Read on Twitter

[Rays Pompadour]

LaMelo was so thin, but he didn't even have wiry strength when he came into the league. His injury record was predictable and will continue to grow in DNP Injured until he adds strength and muscle.

How the Hornets deal with their star's occasional and repeated absences is to add a competent backup point guard to the roster. If Charlotte can prevent LaMelo's absences from being catastrophic to their chances of winning, they'll make his injuries a chronic roster condition and not an acute one.

[Chapelchilla]

LaMelo was so thin, but he didn't even have wiry strength when he came into the league. His injury record was predictable and will continue to grow in DNP Injured until he adds strength and muscle.

How the Hornets deal with their star's occasional and repeated absences is to add a competent backup point guard to the roster. If Charlotte can prevent LaMelo's absences from being catastrophic to their chances of winning, they'll make his injuries a chronic roster condition and not an acute one.

Exactly. We need to draft, find or FA a reliable back up pg. KJ is fine as the 3rd.
Just like we needed a legit back up C before finding Diabate. We now have too many centers but that's another story.....

[KembaWalker]

Not sure I find the argument about total games played as particularly compelling considering one of the major copes used last season was how we were holding him out when he could have been playing the last couple months of the year. He probably could have stumbled through those few months with braces if the bar was set at playing every other game and being ok with still managing to roll it every week. I think progress is being used a bit generously unless we wanna rewrite last seasons history

Like JMAC, I need to know what changed from this post to now to have totally different opinions on the same subject

viewtopic.php?f=53&t=2253979&start=360#p111738898

If you think resting his ankle to full health strengthens his tendons you should be the most against this current strategy they are employing along with everything else in the post. This team is in the exact same situation as it was last year so if you supported shutting him down last year I don’t see why that would change now

[JustBuzzin]

Melo is not getting traded sorry guys.

We have a potential top 10 player. The problem is he has no talent around him. We aren't serious right now about making the playoffs. It's clear the direction of the team is to tank this season.

Let's see how the draft lottery shakes out. We are a Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper away from being a big deal again.

We also have assets to make a major trade. Be patient trust the process.

[Bassman]

I don’t want to trade Melo. Fats question was about the level of front office patience with recurring ankle issues.

I support keeping Melo out as long as necessary to support full healing and readiness to play. If that’s 3 games or the rest of this miserable season, just do the RIGHT THING. He IS the franchise. We ARE doing stealth tanking…soon we should just tank proudly. When Melo is 100%, I know he wants to play, but hopefully this staff is very careful in considering when to put him on the court.

[fatlever]

I'm not sure if he's getting traded, but I do feel like this front office is listening to offers or at least discussing the possibility of trading him more than we probably realize - based on no evidence other than just My gut feeling. This front office and ownership didn't draft him nor were they the ones that handed him the big contract.
If they feel like it it's becoming increasingly difficult to envision build a winning team around the player that they can't depend on to stay healthy, they may want to at least see what's out there in terms of offers. Not saying I agree or disagree with this only that this is my opinion on what I think the front office is probably wrestling with.

As for playing him or not playing him when the seasons a lost cause, I'm not sure if that should be the focus of discussion here. I think most of us agree that if his ankle isn't close to 100 percent there's no reason to risk playing him this season. That will be the third season in a row where we've essentially post All-star breaking he probably plays very little since the season is over.

I think the bigger question is, does the front office believe his Ankle is becoming a chronic problem. Is he actually able to stay healthy? If for argument's sake we were in playoff contention would he be able to play through some level of pain? Or is he someone that just isn't going to play if he's not 100 per cent? Do they believe he is the type of player that's going to do everything off the court in order to give himself the best chance to be healthy for an entire season? Is his body capable of playing a full season plus playoffs? Do they believe that this is something that as he gets older and adds more strength what happens less and less? I think these are all very real and valid concerns that the front office is probably weighing internally very quietly.